Birthday Message
by nasher91
Summary: A love-sick Remus Lupin accidentally reveals his feelings for a certain Hermione Granger in a birthday message recorded by Arthur Weasley. One-shot of pure fluff. Hermione/Remus


"So Remus, what makes our Hermione so special?" Remus winced as Arthur, entranced with the muggle video camera he'd found recently, turned the device on him. As if sensing his discomfort Arthur frowned, "come now Remus, don't be shy! It is Hermione's birthday after all. Don't you have a message for her?"

"Ah yes...er...many happy returns Hermione." Remus forced a grin and made to move away from Arthur but the man grabbed his elbow, beaming.

"Oh come on Remus, surely you have something better than that! Answer my original question: what makes Hermione so special?"

Remus sighed and, knowing he wouldn't be allowed to escape until he had complied with Arthur's wishes, looked into the camera's blinking light, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"What makes Hermione so special is everything about her. Her compassion for everyone, regardless of who they are or how they've treated her in the past, mixes seamlessly with her sense of justice and determined ideas of right and wrong. She's fearless, she's not afraid of telling you if you're gravely wrong with something you've said or done, but she does it gently and with love. She has an insatiable thirst for knowledge which makes her wise behind her years and yet refuses to become haughty with intellect, opting instead to help others less fortunate with her usual grace and kindness. She has a knack for knowing just what people need, be it a hot chocolate or a snowball fight and tries to the best of her capabilities to achieve that for someone she cares about. She's fair and unbiased when it comes to hearing an argument; she's able to discern well when people come to her with a query or a quarrel. She's sharp tongued enough to stick up for herself but lacks the malice to use it to harm others as many would. She has an endearing habit of sucking the end of her quill when she's dwelling on a particularly complex answer and she scrunches up her nose when someone compliments her and she's embarrassed...and the two usually go together. Hermione is in her very essence special, and that is what makes her special."

Remus finished speaking, having zoned out quite early on, and blushingly looked up at Arthur who was staring at him in amazement. Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Ah yes, erm, thank you Remus that was most wonderful." Arthur stepped aside to allow Remus to leave just as Hermione walked into the room. "Hermione, happy birthday!" He bellowed, sweeping the surprised girl into a one armed hug.

Two hours later, once an embarrassed and flustered Hermione had been forced to endure a typically over-bearing (but in the best way) Weasley celebration meal, everybody was gathered in the largest drawing room on the second floor of Grimmauld Place. Harry had given the entire house to Remus as soon as he married Ginny and she fell pregnant, refusing to bring his children up in a secret house in case they gave the secret away in their excitement, and the werewolf had insisted Hermione take up residence once it was clear her relationship with Ron wasn't going anywhere. Her parents had disowned her once they discovered what Hermione had done to them, despite many of the Order visiting them in Australia to explain their daughter's actions during the war, and if Remus was honest with himself, he greatly enjoyed Hermione's company.

Now, with everyone settled in various chairs around the room, Arthur transfigured a book into a projector screen and pointed his wand at the muggle video camera sitting nearby. Instantly, the messages he'd spent all day recording began playing for all of them to see.

Remus paled. He wondered if there was a way he could get Arthur to skip over his before anyone saw it...

"What makes Hermione special?"

Too late. There he was on screen now. He caught Hermione's eye and smiled nervously.

"Hermione is in her very essence special, and that is what makes her special."

Mrs Weasley's beaming face showed up on screen rambling about how special Hermione was to her and Remus knew Arthur had already changed it. He settled back into his chair and smiled more confidently when he noticed Hermione staring at him, an expression of bewilderment on her face.

_Six months later_

"Happy birthday Remus!" Hermione sang as he walked through the kitchen door. He groaned dramatically and began to make creaking noises as he walked to the place she'd set for him at the table. Every so often, on one of her rare days off from work, Hermione would cook him breakfast. Today was such a day. Her laugh rang around the room and she pointed a finger at him reproachfully. "Don't be so silly, you're only 40 so stop acting like you're 100. Now, would you like your eggs boiled or fried?" A slight smile lifted the corner of her lips as she waited for his typical response.

"Boiled or fried, I'm satisfied, as long as I get my kiss."

Giggling she puckered her lips comically and promptly kissed his proffered cheek before turning back to the stove top, "Good, because I scrambled them already."

Remus let out a guffaw and rolled his eyes at her back good naturedly. A comfortable silence settled in the kitchen as Hermione finished cooking their breakfast and Remus watched her. Over the last six months something had shifted ever so slightly between them. Whereas before they would each occupy themselves in their spare time, Hermione had begun to seek him out in the library and ask to sit with him. They would often end up reading together and discussing the latest plot or theory they were studying late into the night.

Hermione set his breakfast down in front of him and took a seat beside him. She pushed her food around, gearing up the confidence to ask him something.

Taking pity on her, Remus reached across the table and took her hand. "What is it Hermione?"

"I have something I'd like to ask you. But I'm not sure if you'd want to answer it."

He smiled reassuringly, "you won't know unless you ask me."

She nodded and took a deep breath. "At my birthday party, your message was different. Like it had been changed before we saw it. I was wondering if you could tell me what you said."

Remus sighed, "I don't suppose I'll get away with saying nothing changed, will I?" Hermione shook her head and he pushed away from the table. When Hermione looked up, worried she'd upset him, he simply held out his hand. "Follow me and I'll show you exactly what I said."

Taking his hand, Hermione found herself being led upstairs to one of the few rooms in Grimmauld Place she'd never been inside - Remus' bedroom. In the corner of the room lay a small basin with light bouncing off its liquid surface.

"Dumbledore's pensive?"

"He left it to me as it had plenty of memories about us as Marauders. Come, I said I'd show you."

Not knowing what to expect, Hermione allowed herself to be pulled into the pensive and one memory of Remus' in particular...

"_So Remus, what makes our Hermione so special?" Remus winced as Arthur, entranced with the muggle video camera he'd found recently, turned the device on him. As if sensing his discomfort Arthur frowned, "come now Remus, don't be shy! It is Hermione's birthday after all. Don't you have a message for her?"_

"_Ah yes...er...many happy returns Hermione."_

"_Oh come on Remus, surely you have something better than that! Answer my original question: what makes Hermione so special?"_

"_What makes Hermione so special is everything about her. Her compassion for everyone, regardless of who they are or how they've treated her in the past, mixes seamlessly with her sense of justice and determined ideas of right and wrong. She's fearless, she's not afraid of telling you if you're gravely wrong with something you've said or done, but she does it gently and with love. She has an insatiable thirst for knowledge which makes her wise behind her years and yet refuses to become haughty with intellect, opting instead to help others less fortunate with her usual grace and kindness. She has a knack for knowing just what people need, be it a hot chocolate or a snowball fight and tries to the best of her capabilities to achieve that for someone she cares about. She's fair and unbiased when it comes to hearing an argument; she's able to discern well when people come to her with a query or a quarrel. She's sharp tongued enough to stick up for herself but lacks the malice to use it to harm others as many would. She has an endearing habit of sucking the end of her quill when she's dwelling on a particularly complex answer and she scrunches up her nose when someone compliments her and she's embarrassed...and the two usually go together. Hermione is in her very essence special and that is what makes her special."_

Hermione stared at the Pensive Remus, unable to form a coherent sentence. Fearing the worst, Remus gently took her arm, relieved that she didn't throw him off her, and pulled them back into his bedroom. Hermione looked up from the pensive and stared at him, her eyes wide and unreadable. Remus' shoulders slumped and he began to walk out of the room.

"Remus wait," she spoke barely louder than a whisper but he heard her regardless. Reluctantly he turned around to find her expression had softened. "Why didn't you tell me before?" She asked him, slowly stepping towards him.

He shrugged, desperately wishing he'd never shown her the memory. "It wasn't proper...you'd been through so much and I didn't want to abuse the friendship we had...the age difference..."

"Stop right there," there was fire in her voice and when Remus finally brought himself to look at her he was met with a thoroughly incensed woman. "It's perfectly 'proper' for two consenting adults, what I've been through in no way changes my ability to be in relationships or have knowledge of how someone feels and as for the _age difference_," her voice rose a few decibels, "I am surprised and disgusted that you would use such an excuse for avoiding your feelings."

Convinced he'd angered her beyond repair, Remus simply turned away again, but Hermione had reached close enough to where he stood to stop him with a hand on his arm.

"Oh Remus you fool," any anger in her was gone upon seeing how dejected he looked, "I'm not disgusted by _you_. In fact," she said slyly, stepping even closer towards him, "I feel the very opposite." Remus merely blinked at her and she sighed in mock irritation. "What I mean is..." she paused, unsure how to word it in a way that would be clear, "what I want to say is..." she sighed, frustrated with how her usually competent brain had failed her in her moment of need, "oh forget saying it. Let me show you." She declared.

She wrapped her arms around the back of Remus' neck and pulled him down to her, kissing him.

When she pulled away Remus managed to react through his dazed feelings. "In that case," he told her, his voice suddenly husky, "I'm _very_ glad I showed you."

Hermione giggled and kissed him again. "Happy birthday Remus" she replied, beaming up at him before squealing in surprise as he spun her around, dipped her and kissed along her arm up to her lips. "Remus," he didn't break from his kisses, "Remus, breakfast will go cold."

He gently pulled her upright and stared at her, eyebrows raised. "Breakfast can be re-heated or re-cooked. I wasted too long not doing this to stop now."

She pressed herself against him and cocked her head to once side, as if considering his argument. "I concur Mr Lupin, please do continue."

Remus wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her even closer against his body. "Gladly" he declared, resuming kissing her.


End file.
